Super typhoon Nepartak made landfall in Taiwan early Friday, about 15 kilometers south of the eastern city of Taitung, tearing roofs off buildings, flipping cars and dumping rain across the island.
So far, one death and about 66 injuries have been reported by the Taiwan Central Emergency Operations Center as the typhoon packed winds of up to 240 kph (150 mph).
The storm hammered the eastern coast of Taiwan with torrential rain and wind for several hours prior to arrival, with photos on social media showing cars destroyed by the onslaught.
Some locations have already seen more than 300 mm of rain in just the past 12 hours, while conditions are expected to worsen across central and southern Taiwan for another 12 hours.
Taiwan's rugged and mountainous terrain has slowed Nepartak, which has been downgraded from a super typhoon to a typhoon. The storm is expected to have left Taiwan by late Friday and will hit eastern China early Saturday local time.
At least, 15,224 people have been evacuated from the worst affected areas while an official told CNN two railway systems in the country are out of service.
Most flights are canceled throughout the morning out of Taiwan's Taoyuan International Airport.
The storm showered the region with furious winds, rain and power outages, CNN affiliate SETTV reported, and violent gusts felled trees and shattered windows in other locations.
Professional stunt rider Dave McKenna, currently in Taiwan, wrote on his Instagram account he could see roofs flying from the seventh floor of his building.
"The streets already look like a bomb has gone off, and this is just the start of it... crazy power. I've been in some back home in Australia but nothing like this," he said.
So far, power outages have put more than 1,300 homes into darkness, SETTV's Sharon Chien told CNN.